Flashpoint

10

Even as he heard the rounds exploding, Murdock estimated the damage and casualties. The fighter came in low and flat. That meant the rounds from his cannon would hit the ground and anything in the way once every twenty or thirty yards. All the rounds might miss the barracks.

He dumped that thought when he heard another round explode somewhere nearby. He wondered if the Bull Pups could have adjusted range fast enough to hit the plane. He decided the laser operating unit couldn’t react fast enough with the target moving at 500 to 600 miles an hour.

The jet slammed overhead and vanished.

Murdock pulled up his head. No fire. He saw a soldier down in the company street a half block north. He ran to the barracks door.

“I just hate it to fucking hell when some asshole is shooting at me and I don’t have a chance to shoot back,” Jeff Jefferson said. He wiped one hand over his black face and said it again.

Murdock took in the large room in one swift glance. Two holes in the far wall about the size of baseballs.

“Anybody hit?” Murdock called.

“Hell no, that was just a wake-up call,” Jaybird shrilled.

Somebody laughed.

“Joke’s on that bastard, cause on accounta I wasn’t fucking sleeping,” Guns Franklin brayed.

“We got a break, guys,” Murdock said. “At least he was out of bombs by the time he found us. No reason he singled us out. Just another target. Ed, check out your squad.” Murdock used his Motorola. All of his men checked in except Lam, who was on his way to the medics.

“Clean up any damage, and we’ll try to find out where a mess hall is and what the hell we’re supposed to be doing here.”

Someone came in the front door and cleared his throat.

“Commander, may I have a word with you?”

“Attention on the bridge,” Senior Chief Dobler bellowed. The men jolted to their feet and stood at attention.

In the doorway stood a tall man in cammies with silver eagle insignia on his shoulders.

Murdock walked over to him and saluted smartly.

“Lieutenant Commander Murdock, sir.”

“Put your men at ease and come outside.”

“Yes sir.” The man was darkly Colombian, spoke perfect conversational English, and had a demeanor that Murdock liked at once.

“At ease, carry on,” Murdock said and hurried out the door.

“Commander, I’m Colonel Paredes. Commanding officer of Bravo. Welcome aboard. I spent a year in the States at two war colleges and training schools. I’m delighted to have you here. I understand you had two casualties. We have good medical facilities here.”

“Thank you, Colonel Paredes. I want to go see my men, then get my troops settled in. I’m hoping one of your officers can give me a briefing about exactly what you want our mission here to be.”

“I can do that, Commander, on our way to the hospital. My car is right over here. Would now be convenient?”

“It would. I put top priority on taking care of my wounded.”

“Good. We can talk as we drive. It isn’t far.”

The car was a three-year-old black Mercedes sedan. Murdock wondered if it had been liberated. Once inside the car, the colonel began.

“Your mission here. Partly up to you, partly our requests. Right now, we have a column of about four thousand men moving in and harassing our northern blocking force. If you could somehow discourage them, we would be relieved. You know that I’m outmanned almost four to one.”

“I also hear you have only a few jet aircraft. That could be a problem.”

“It’s a huge problem, but you probably can’t help me there. First, I want you to help me push back the federal column, hit and run probably. Then we’ll talk about some more missions you can do here and elsewhere in Colombia.”

The car stopped, and Murdock waited for the colonel to get out first. Military courtesy. Colonel Paredes studied Murdock a moment. “We have heard good things about you and your SEALs. You have our complete cooperation. I’ll have Captain Orejuela here with a jeep, which will be at your command. Is the captain a good liaison officer for you?”

“Has he ever been in combat?”

“No, he’s unblooded, but his English is excellent. That probably is more important. He won’t go with you on most of your missions.”

“We’ll try him, Colonel. Now I need to get in there and see my wounded men.”

Murdock saluted the colonel, who returned the courtesy, then the SEAL hurried into the hospital.

He found Lampedusa in the emergency ward. His head graze had been treated, stitched up, and a small bandage attached. Captain Orejuela was with him.

“Good news on Lampedusa,” the captain said. “The graze did not give him a concussion, and there should be no lasting damage. He’s released for duty.”

“About fucking time I got out of here,” Lam said.

“Where’s Ostercamp?” Murdock asked. He was two curtains over. A doctor talked with him in broken English and Spanish. Ostercamp responded.

Orejuela chattered with the doctor in Spanish, then turned and smiled. “Yes, the doctor says the concussion was not serious. It disoriented him for a few hours, but he’s almost back to normal. They want to keep him here overnight for observation and will release him to duty in the morning.”

Murdock frowned. “You sure he’s okay? He was totally confused coming in. Thought he was back in SEAL training four years ago.”

“No, he should be fine. This is one of our best doctors. I’ve seen him work many times with our wounded.”

Murdock talked to Ostercamp just to be sure.

“Where are we, SEAL?”

“We’re in Colombia, doing what the hell I don’t know.”

“What’s your name?”

“Machinist Mate First Class Anthony Ostercamp, sir.”

“What’s your current duty?”

“With Bravo Squad, Third Platoon, with SEAL Team Seven, Coronado California, a part of NAVSPECWARGRUP-One.” Ostercamp frowned.

“Hey, come on, Cap. I’m ready to go. Tell these funny-talking people I’m back to normal.”

“Yeah, you sound like it. Take a rest in a good bed, and we’ll see you in the morning. Get some good food and some sleep.”

Ten minutes later, Captain Orejuela’s jeep had taken Murdock and Lam back to their barracks.

Murdock had talked to the captain about some food. That was the next stop. A mess hall had been provided for the men less than three hundred yards away.

The SEALs ate together on steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, two vegetables, and ice cream for desert. The coffee was strong and black. When they returned to their barracks, Murdock found a messenger waiting for him. The envelope held a brief message: “See me as soon as possible. The messenger will bring you here.” It was signed by Colonel Paredes.

Murdock took Ed DeWitt and Senior Chief Dobler with him. He explained it to the Colombian.

“Colonel, if this involves a mission for my men, I need these two with me to help evaluate and plan. It’s the way we do things in the SEALs.”

The colonel frowned for a moment, then rubbed his chin.

“Very well.” He introduced them to two of his aides. Murdock couldn’t remember their names. Both were majors.

“This is the situation. With our Loyalist Forces, we control most of the Cali area, from the coast to the mountain range to the east. The north flank is our weak spot, and that’s where the so-called Democratic Forces are poised, ready to strike south.

“We are strong up the Cauca River Valley all the way to Tulua, which is about a hundred miles north. Beyond that, we have some control up another forty or fifty miles. Above that is the force we estimate at about four thousand men. They have armor and artillery and can call in fighter aircraft with air-to-ground missiles.

“That point is about two hundred miles south of Medellin, the headquarters of the drug syndicate and the second capital. The new president spends most of his time there.”

“Do they have plans to move south with their troops?” Murdock asked.

“It’s a threat. I’m not sure of their plans. We try for intelligence, but have lost six good men trying to infiltrate their planning section.”

“There are good roads along the river, I would guess,” Ed DeWitt said.

“Yes, good hard-surfaced roads, and the enemy has enough trucks to move his troops quickly down those roads.”

“What about the river?” Dobler asked. “Sir, can it be used by large ships to move his men?”

“Not a factor. We have few ships we could use, and he has none that we know of.”

“If we took out his transport, it would be a huge setback for any attack plans,” Murdock said.

The colonel brightened. “Yes, good. I understand that he has more than two hundred trucks in the area, many what you Americans call six-by-six trucks.”

“How would we get to the general area?” DeWitt asked.

“We could move you at night with one truck to within twenty miles of their outposts. From there on, it would be up to you how to proceed.”

“Could we use the truck without your driver beyond that twenty-mile point to ram through their outposts and drive in as far as possible before we went on foot?” Dobler asked.

“Yes, we could sacrifice one of our trucks. But would it be wise to let them know someone was infiltrating?”

“Colonel, if you had that strength, would you worry about one truck trying to break through an outpost or two?”

The colonel chuckled. “No. You’re right. They could write it off as a probe, a reconnaissance mission. I see. Yes, it should work. That way, you could get yourselves and a quantity of ammunition, supplies, and explosives in with ease.”

“Maybe closer,” Murdock said. “Once we break through the first outpost or roadblock, they’ll come looking for us. We expect that.”

The colonel stood and walked to a large wall map of Colombia.

He touched the area they were talking about. “You can always vanish into the mountains. There is a high range of mountains on both sides of the river valley. Yes, they are high, rugged, and tough. But they could be your salvation.”

“How long have that many troops been in this threatening position?” Ed asked.

“As near as we know, they have built up to their present strength in the last six months.”

“Do they have buildings or is it in a bivouac situation?”

“They have taken over many buildings so they are inside, have good food, and even entertainment.”

“Good. They must be getting a little soft and used to their easy living,” Murdock said. “That could be to our advantage once we start working against them.”

The colonel went back to his desk. “There may be some urgency. We have heard rumors that the troops up there may be planning on moving within two weeks. They have been doing some training they didn’t do before.”

“So the quicker we get there, the better,” Dobler said.

“Exactly.”

“Can we draw some equipment and rations and goods we may not have?” Murdock asked. “We lost some of our matériel when the truck was hit on the way in here.”

“Anything we have you need, is yours,” the colonel said. He nodded at one of his majors.

“Let us work over some plans tonight and in the morning,” Murdock said. “We will want to leave here so we hit their checkpoint just after dark. I’ll leave the timing up to you.”

“Is there anything else?” the colonel asked.

“We’ll need a good, detailed map of the area,” Dobler said. “A half dozen would be good, especially if they are waterproofed and the size that we can fold for our pockets.”

The colonel said something in Spanish to the major, who made a note.

He looked at them again.

“That should do it for now,” Murdock said. “We’ll need an H&K machine gun in the NATO round size, and another long automatic rifle. We’ll work through Captain Orejuela for those.”

“Thank you, Commander. Anything we can do we will be glad to do. Let me or the captain know.”

They drove back to the barracks, talking about the mission.

“Captain, we want you in on our planning session. We may be at it late tonight.”

“Yes. I want to be there.”

At the barracks they pulled the men around and told them about the mission. There were some questions, then Murdock outlined the general plan to get to the adjacent area.

“Once we get within striking distance of the main camp, we’ll have to decide what we can do and how to do it.”

“Man, we don’t want to get into a land war with four thousand troops,” Franklin said.

“Amen to that,” Bradford said. “So we get in, hit them hard, and vanish into the mountains?”

“Sounds possible. There isn’t any lack of mountains around here. How high do they go?” They looked at Captain Orejuela.

“The peaks go from thirty-five hundred feet up to fifty-five hundred. That’s coming out of a valley by the river that could be no more than six or eight hundred feet above sea level.”

“Lots of trees and brush up there?” Lam asked.

The captain nodded. “Lots of timber type trees and brush. A rain forest. Easy to hide in.”

They talked for two hours about how they could get in, blow the motor pool into rubble, and then get out.

“We send in sappers to get as many trucks as possible,” Jaybird said. “Then we go with our twenty-mike rounds and riddle the place with the proximity fuses and hope to hit some more gas tanks.”

At midnight, Murdock called a halt. “Captain, can you be here at 0800 hours tomorrow? We’ll have a list of items we need, including the two new weapons and some more explosives if you have any C-3 or C-4.”

“I’ll be here.”

As they broke up, Murdock called on Holt. They went outside the barracks and set up the SATCOM antenna. It took three calls to raise anyone at Home Base, the carrier.

“Yes, Roamer, this is Home Base. ¿Qué pasa?”

They used voice, but it was all automatically encrypted both ways.

“Don Stroh. You finally made it. We’re on site in Cali, going on a move soon to short-circuit an invasion force. We could use some more of those twenty-mike-mike rounds.”

“Sorry, can’t do it,” Stroh said. “We’ve had a cease and desist order from the maker. They say not to fire the Bull Pup weapon even in testing. They have found cracks developing in the receiver after two hundred rounds. One of the on-bench test weapons fired automatically actually exploded at 280 rounds.”

“So we’re not supposed to use them?”

“That’s what the maker says.”

“Yeah, I hear you. We’ll let you know how our first go-round goes here. This is just the beginning. Glad you’re on board way out there.”

“The weapons, you won’t use them?”

“We got the message, Stroh. We got the message. Out.”